Micajah Durham, Shelby
A rectangular granite block on a single granite base designates the Durham family burial plot in Sunset Cemetery. The word Durham is incised into the broad front of the stone. Attached to each narrow side of the stone is a bronze tablet. One side (south) is a memorial to Plato Durham and the other side (north) to family patriarch Micajah Durham.
Images (by Rusty Long):
Far-off view of the memorial |
The Durham family burial plot |
The Durham family burial plot in the Sunset Cemetery
MICAJAH DURHAM / 1804-1964 / SON OF CHARLES / ALEXANDER DURHAM /AND PATIENCE DAVIS / A LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE IN / THOUGHT AND DEED; ADVOCATE / OF STATES’ RIGHTS; MEMBER OF THE / NORTH CAROLINA SECESSION / CONVENTION MAY 1861 TO / MAY 1962. FOLLOWING FOUR SONS THO’ / FAR OVER THE MILITARY AGE, / HE ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE / SOLDIER IN LANE’S BRIGADE / OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY / SEPT. 7 1862 AND WAS KILLED / IN ACTION AND BURIED IN A / NAMELESS GRAVE AT THE / BATTLE OF WILDERNESS / MAY 6, 1864. / A READER OF BOOKS; LOVER / OF THINGS OF THE SPIRIT; / HE RODE HORSEBACK FROM / RUTHERFORD COUNTY, NORTH /CAROLINA, TO NEW YOUR CITY AND AGAIN / TO CHARLESTON TO HEAR JENNY LIND / SING. MICAJAH DURHAM WAS A BROTHER / OF BERRYMAN HICKS
Sunset Cemetery, City of Shelby
October 1930
35.296100 , -81.546700
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"CPT Plato Durham,” Find A Grave, findagrave.com, (accessed August 13, 2023) Link
Drum, Renn. “Bring Remains of Durhams to City Cemetery,” Cleveland Star (Shelby, NC), October 17, 1930
Falkner, Ronnie W., 2006. “Secession Movement,” NCpedia.org, (accessed August 13, 2023) Link
Marshall, W.F. “Memorial Mentions Jenny Lind,” Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), August 2, 1936
“Durhams Honor Their Ancestors,” The News And Observer (Raleigh, NC), November 2, 1930
“Micajah “Cage” Durham,” Find A Grave, findagrave.com, (accessed August 13, 2023) Link
Yes
Granite, bronze
Prof. Robert Lee Durham
[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]
The memorial marker for Micajah Durham is located in Sunset Cemetery, 412 W. Sumter Street, Shelby, NC. The plaque for his son Plato Durham is in the other side of the memorial marker. The family burial plot is located in the east side of the “old section” of the cemetery.
The memorial is surrounded by graveyards.
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